Hey everyone! My name is Wilfido Castaneda and I'm from Chicago! I've been working away on my own, but I figured it's better to come out of my shell and meet like minded people instead of isolating myself!

Also if you have the time to give me some career advice...

I do not have a degree because of money, but I am working hard to build up my portfolio to not only become better at making games, but have something to show future employers. I went to school from Fall 2011 - Fa11 2012.

I wasn't able to finish school but I'm busting my butt to make up for it on my own by working on my own projects. Currently I lean towards design and programming. I already understand the game project cycle from the time I had in school and I'm not really a newbie when it comes to making games. However, my concern comes from not having a degree and I want to know how badly that affects my chances of finding a job in this industry. I'm doing my best to look for and apply for entry level jobs, but currently I have no luck. My options right now include continuing looking for work, or flat out starting my own company, but right now I'd rather get a job and bolster my resume.

Is there any advice you have for me being stuck in this position?

Thank you for the swift replies! Especially at this time of night. I'm working on projects right now, and I plan to have 3 done and up on my blog by the end of the month. I've already completed a number of games before, although not all of them are published for good reasons (a lot of my early work sucks!).

But yes, I'm happy to have joined this forum! Hopefully I make new friends!

However, my concern comes from not having a degree and I want to know how badly that affects my chances of finding a job in this industry. I'm doing my best to look for and apply for entry level jobs, but currently I have no luck.

Have you read all the FAQ links yet?

You write that you are in Chicago, have you looked up all the local studios? Have you been doing networking within those groups, such as local IGDA meetings? Have you been actively courting individuals in those studios to get a job?

Do you have a link to the resume you are sending out, so people can review it for common problems?

Quantity != Quality

I can't comment on the quality of your games of course, but remember that having 1 polished project is still better than 3 buggy games.

Yup I know. I do my best to keep high standards when working on a project. I don't like to release anything until it is fully playable and functional bare minimum. I just need to learn when to stop polishing.

Post your portfolio and/or resume here as well, not having any luck on getting a job might as well be because your portfolio is not reflecting the right thing. Plenty of people here take a good amount of time to provide constructive feedback!

Oh that's a good idea! Although I do feel nervous about showing my stuff, since there are many people way more talented than I am, it is crucial for personal growth. I'm very appreciative of the extremely friendly environment here. I probably should have signed up for this site long ago!

You write that you are in Chicago, have you looked up all the local studios? Have you been doing networking within those groups, such as local IGDA meetings? Have you been actively courting individuals in those studios to get a job?



Do you have a link to the resume you are sending out, so people can review it for common problems?

Yes I have looked up local studios and I've been trying to apply, but not luck. I've not been attending IGDA meetings or other meetups here because of self doubt, but if my skill level isn't so much important as it is to simply attend, then I should reconsider. This past Global Game Jam I did talk to an employee at a local studio who told me they will be hiring for QA positions in March, so I've been polishing my skills and trying to bolster my portfolio before then. I even got his business card and he lives in my neighborhood, but I have not contacted him since.

Here is a link to my current resume - Click here

Here is a link to my portfolio - Click here

Definitely start going to your IGDA meet ups and start making friends. Lots of jobs just come from knowing people who can get your resume on the short stack where the lack of degree doesn't really matter. Also don't get too worked up about thinking your games aren't good enough. Everybody starts someplace and there is always somebody else out there better then you. As long as you keep working on getting better with your skills that's all that matters. Also the reality is most people in the industry aren't like your average troll who tries to tear down everything for fun. They will give you useful advice on improving your games if you show them.

Your resume doesn't have a lot to show for it.

Trying to rebuild a timeline based on your resume from a recruiter's eyes:

* 2011: age 18, High school graduate, anime club VP. "Northside College Preparatory High School" sounds fancy.

* 2012: You attended two semesters at University of Maine.

* 2012: You attended one semester of DePaul, then left.

* 2013: ???

* 2014: You started moderating a facebook page (really?) started a Unity game that hasn't gone anywhere, and became a summer camp counselor where you learned something about GameMaker.

* Late 2014: Started doing some hobby storyboard art.

* 2015: Attended game jam.

That's not much to go on.

Then I take a look at your web site. Links to 3 game jam entries, where you were Design, Design, and Design/Production respectively. One of them where you were listed as design has a Unity executable, looks like a Katamari style game (absorb all the stuff smaller than you). The next looks like picking items from a conveyor belt. The last one where you were listed as a programmer looks like you started with one of the Unity FPS tutorials and ended the level after a collision.

You've also got a link to a choose-your-own adventure of about 15 pages, and some (face reality) not very good art.

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With all that, you want to enter game development, "leaning toward design or programming". Or by follow up, maybe QA.

You might get a QA job with that. You are competing against a bunch of programmers with college degrees in the field so programming would be difficult. Design is not an entry level job, so that's out.

So QA it is.

You will be asked about 2013. What happened?

Do you have any evidence that you can hold a regular job? I don't care if you were flipping burgers, waiting tables, or vacuuming floors, you need some proof that you will show up to work every day. That goes under job experience.

Under job experience, listing "whenever available" is not a very good answer. Either you were regularly employed, or were a contractor, or you didn't really have job experience.

You have many job-related items on your web page, but not of it shows up on your resume. Fix that, make sure all the best stuff is showcased on your resume. If I don't see it, I won't bother to look at your web site.

You've got six lines under "skills". Some of them could be quite good if you actually link them with projects. Don't just say "Java", list the projects you did and under the description include all the details about the project, including java. Don't just list "JavaScript", tell what you did with it. Repeat for all your items.

Trilingual could be quite an asset, if you are actually fluent, that can be useful in QA. If the fluency is "took some classes in high school", probably remove them.

Since school was almost three years ago, I'd kick it to the bottom rather than the top.